The Chairman, All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Lagos Chapter, Mr Femi Oke, on Tuesday called for the revitalization of the Commodity Exchange Market (CEM).
Oke made this call in an interview in Lagos.
According to him, the CEM will help to standardise prices of agriculture produce in the country.
“Most of our produce price is determined by the international standardized price.
“The measurements for most of our agriculture produce are at variant with the measurements used outside the country.
“When we use our measurements here to calculate our earnings and when it gets to the international market it will be far below our expectations and we incur some losses.
“This also does not make our farmers get the actual price worth of their produce in the local market,’’ he said.
Oke said the confusion would be cleared if there is a vibrant commodity exchange market in place.
He said as the nation is marching towards diversification of the economy and creating a vibrant agricultural sector, a creation of CEM is necessary.
According to him, it will go a long way in making farmers earn enough to cover their cost of production and extra to take care of their families.
Oke said it would also put a stop to the exploitation of smallholder farmers by middlemen especially at the pick of the harvest season.
He said due to lack of storage facilities, smallholder farmers are being forced to sell their produce at cheaper rates to prevent them from spoiling in the farms.
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